Wordsworth seemed at a loss to know in what “class” of his poems to place ‘The Waggoner;’ and his frequent changes—­removing it from one group to another—­shew the artificial character of these classes.  Thus, in the edition of 1820, it stood first among the “Poems of the Fancy.”  In 1827 it was the last of the “Poems founded on the Affections.”  In 1832 it was reinstated among the “Poems of the Fancy.”  In 1836 it had a place of its own, and was inserted between the “Poems of the Fancy” and those “Founded on the Affections;” while in 1845 it was sent back to its original place among the “Poems of the Fancy;” although in the table of contents it was printed as an independent poem, closing the series.

The original text of ‘The Waggoner’ underwent little change, till the year 1836, when it was carefully revised, and altered throughout.  The final edition of 1845, however, reverted, in many instances—­especially in the first canto—­to the original text of 1819.

As this poem was dedicated to Charles Lamb, it may be of interest to note that, some six months afterwards, Lamb presented Wordsworth with a copy of the first edition of ‘Paradise Regained’ (the edition of 1671), writing on it the following sentence,

  “Charles Lamb, to the best knower of Milton, and therefore the
  worthiest occupant of this pleasant edition.—­Jan. 2nd, 1820.”

The opening stanzas are unrivalled in their description of a sultry June evening, with a thunder-storm imminent.

’ ’Tis spent—­this burning day of June!  Soft darkness o’er its latest gleams is stealing; The buzzing dor-hawk, round and round, is wheeling,—­ That solitary bird Is all that can be heard In silence deeper far than that of deepest noon! ... ...  The mountains against heaven’s grave weight Rise up, and grow to wondrous height.  The air, as in a lion’s den, Is close and hot;—­and now and then Comes a tired and sultry breeze With a haunting and a panting, Like the stifling of disease; But the dews allay the heat, And the silence makes it sweet.’

The Waggoner takes what is now the middle road, of the three leading from Rydal to Grasmere (see the note to ’The Primrose of the Rock’).  The “craggy hill” referred to in the lines

’Now he leaves the lower ground, And up the craggy hill ascending ...  Steep the way and wearisome,’

is the road from Rydal Quarry up to White Moss Common, with the Glowworm rock on the right, and the “two heath-clad rocks,” referred to in the last of the “Poems on the Naming of Places,” on the left.  He next passes “The Wishing Gate” on the left, John’s Grove on the right, and descends by Dove Cottage—­where Wordsworth lived—­to Grasmere.

’... at the bottom of the brow, Where once the DOVE and OLIVE-BOUGH Offered a greeting of good ale To all who entered Grasmere Vale; And called on him who must depart To leave it with a jovial heart; There, where the DOVE and OLIVE-BOUGH Once hung, a Poet harbours now, A simple water-drinking Bard.’

He goes through Grasmere, passes the Swan Inn,